


No Regrets Left For Tomorrow

by systematicmurder



Category: Persona 4
Genre: M/M, Road Trips, hell yess, souyo - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-06-24
Updated: 2018-02-27
Packaged: 2018-04-05 22:21:44
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 17,320
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4197153
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/systematicmurder/pseuds/systematicmurder
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Yosuke gets his hand on a large amount of cash. What's better than to waste away your money on a kick-ass road trip with your closest friends! Young adult shenanigans, heavy drama, heavy drinking, heavy partying, romance, and don't forget... intense road trip games all ensue. This trip could possibly the worst idea Yosuke has ever had. Or a god damn stroke of genius from a not so genius.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. An Introduction of Sorts

 

 

He worried that it wouldn't be enough. Worried that he'll leave something behind like he always manages to do no matter how many times he double checks. He knows his friends will nag him about his tardiness, but he knew better. 8 changes of clothes, check. 2 extra changes of clothes for emergencies, check. Toothbrush, check. extra toothbrushes, check. Comb, razor, extra comb, extra razors, different bottles of body wash, cologne, tide-to-go. Check, check, check, and check. He looked down at his new shoes. The ones Nanako picked out for him. They were a blinding neon blue, bright obnoxious colors are a new style according to Nanako's classmates. But Yu didn't mind especially since they were from his favorite girl in the world. As he stared down he wondered if the single pair would last him the entire trip. They were new so they weren't going to rip apart any time soon, but because they were new he didn't want to make them filthy so soon either. His luggage was quite packed to the point that he had trouble zipping it up. He had to get on top of the luggage on his hands and knees to put all his weight on it just so he could zip it up.

 

Months before he returned to Inaba, Yu and the rest of the group were summoned to a skype call by an ecstatic Yosuke. He wouldn't say why he bothered everyone to get on skype at 10 pm, which wasn't so late in the city, but for Inaba...

Yu was the first one to arrive and turned on his webcam. Yosuke wasn't in webcam mode yet but his message at the bottom instructed them to wait till everyone showed.

"Gosh, Yosuke this better be important I was in the middle of filling out applications!" Chie said once her face popped up on the screen. She looked tired, her eyes were red and the dark circles under her eyes were worrying. Her green jacket was unzipped revealing a Cheeto stained shirt. Yu didn't say anything about it he didn't want one of her kicks to the face even though they were miles apart she would not forget. Kanji popped up next he managed a 'sup senpai' before returning behind a table to work on what seemed to be more cute yarn animals. Yu wanted to ask if Kanji had any spare he could send, but the poor guy looked worn out. Yukiko was next and she was already on her futon looking like she was ready for sleep. Yu could see the mess of papers strewn about her as she sat cross-legged. She was twirling a pencil in her hand while chewing her bottom lip. She said some brief 'hellos'. Rise's face came up and Yu let out a small sigh of relief he hoped that her presence would lighten the mood. She was a colorful and definitely a fun girl, maybe she could make this strange tension dissipate. No such luck though, she also looked worn out, her hair was in a messy bun, and she had a green face mask for her skin -which did earn a few comments and chuckles from those present. She was in a hotel most likely doing more idol business. She put on a way too fake smile, "Yu-senpai! It's been quite a while. It's weird seeing all you ready for the day to end when the day just started for us in the city!" Naoto showed up and before she could say anything Yosuke appeared and he wore the biggest smile Yu has ever seen him wear.

"Alright Yosuke-senpai is there a special reason why you bothered everyone so late?" Naoto's voice rose making her sound annoyed. Her head was looking down at some papers and files and she was writing notes down in at an alarming pace.

"No need to be looking so salty guys!" He commented on everyone's state. Chie was beyond annoyed at this point.

"Easy for you to say, you friggin Junes bum! You haven't done anything si-"

"Chie please don't yell my head hurts let's just hear what Yosuke has to say." Yukiko cut her off midsentence and Chie murmured back an apology.

Everyone nodded in agreement and they turned their full attention to look at their friend. It was at this time that Yu finally got a good look at his best friend in almost 7 months. They have been messaging back and forth almost nonstop since his last visit but no face to face contact. It was almost like he was a different person his hair grew back and it was even longer. He even managed to make a decent sized pony tail. His hair wasn't that cute orange anymore, it was back to his original dark brown. Nobody knew until after they parted ways that Yosuke bleached his hair. If it wasn't for Teddie walking in on him in the process of doing so nobody would've been the wiser. Maybe he was too embarrassed to bleach it again, Yu concluded.

"So... I was looking through my dad's important file drawer one day, you know, for curiosity's sake and I found some unused lottery tickets." Yosuke wore a satisfied smile seemingly stuck in the pleasant memory. "Dad said that if I were to- by some random chance- actually win I could keep the money." Everyone immediately perked up.

"No fucking way.." Kanji walked closer to his webcam leaving his half done giraffe behind.

"How much!!!" Rise and Yukiko yelled out in unison. Rise looked excited and Yukiko's shocked expression mirrored everyone else's.

"2...hundred..."

Yosuke slowly said letting the words drag at the end. Everyone leaned in closer to their screens all the sleep from their eyes gone.

TWO HUNDRED?!

"Million!" he whipped out a large lottery ticket as he yelled out. Yu let his body slump into his chair as he tried to process the amount. Rise, Yukiko, and Kanji bounced up from their positions and began excitedly pacing back and forth. Naoto and Chie stared blankly maybe going through the same as Yu.

"Are you sure?!" Chie spoke out.

"100 percent, check it." He brought his lotto ticket closer to his webcam. Small circles were scratched away to reveal a perfect win. Inside the circles were the words grand prize and at the bottom of the ticket the prize money was indeed confirmed.

"Holy shit Yosuke, that's amazing!" Chie's smile broke through her tiredness and she was bouncing in her chair.

"What'd'ya think partner?" Yosuke raised his eyebrows his proud smile bright as ever. The surprise paralyzed Yu and his mouth was dry. His fingers brushed over his keyboard. His friends watched the pencil at the bottom scribble away.

* * *

 

**_What are you gonna spend it on?_ **

* * *

 

His friend gave a sly smile.

From there Yosuke told them his plan. His dad and him were going to the lottery office in the city to collect their prize. From there Yosuke had two options, save the money for college or have an amazing trip with his friends. Without a doubt Yosuke chose the latter. When he told the group this they exchanged uneasy glances. Sure, a trip with all their friends sounded great but they all knew how Yosuke was slacking severely in his academics. That money could go to college or for buying his own place. Yu knew how much his best friend wanted to move out of Inaba and back to the city. Yu half expected Chie to voice their concerns but she looked down strangely quiet before smiling. She let out a big exclamation of excitement and the others soon followed.

 

 

Pulling him back to the present time His phone vibrated from the top of his t.v. Setting the shoe issue aside for now he walked over to his phone.

* * *

 

**Chie Satonaka**

**7:22 am**

_**O my god where r u?!!!!!!** _

_**U were supposed to b here 30 mins ago Rise is complaining Yukiko won't stop telling scary stories to  kanji yosuke is falling asleep as we speak** _

* * *

 

 

 His fingers slowly worked the keys.

* * *

 

_**What's Naoto doing?** _

 

**Chie Satonaka**

**7:24 am**

_**What does that even matter >:( she's reading obvs tired waiting for u** _

 

**7:27 am**

_**I'm getting the group to spam you.** _

* * *

 

Yu chuckled obviously seeing it coming. He liked pushing their buttons sometimes. His friends were the most amusing people he's ever met and he wouldn't trade them for a thing. He put his phone on silent when he saw the first string of messages roll in from Yosuke.

* * *

 

 

**Yosuke Hanamura B)**

**7:30 am**

**_paaaaaaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAaaaaaarrrrrrRRRRRTTTTNEEEERRRRRRRRRRRRR_ **

 

**7:30**

_**im going 2 keep aaall of inabas cats hostage if u dnt hurry ur ass up** _

 

_**7:31** _

_**no..** _

_**im going 2 keep the worlds cats hostage how u like dem apples** _

* * *

 

****

Quickly looking down at his shoes again he groaned in frustration, why is nothing ever easy. He grabbed his luggage and his backpack and made his way down the stairs. Dojima and Nanako were in the kitchen sitting at the table ready to say goodbye. Dojima looked like hell and he had a pretty hefty mug of coffee while Nanako was immediately bouncing by his side. Yu wondered how she managed to be so perky so early.

"You know if you weren't already 18 I wouldn't have let you go on this crazy trip," Dojima said sternly. "I'm sure your parents wouldn't have minded either way, they trust you. Not that I don't trust you but America is quite far." He took a thoughtful sip. He opened his mouth to say more but Nanako interrupted.

"Big bro do you know English!" She was hugging his side and it took all of Yu's self control not to hug her back and pinch her cheeks. He nodded back in response.

"Wow! You're so cool!" Yu smiled fondly and gave her head a pat. He took plenty of English classes in his old schools and studied the language on his own. He wondered how the others will handle the difference.

"Sorry, but I seem to have kept the others waiting long enough and I don't want to bother you to drive me there." Yu said to Dojima. He didn't argue with this and gave him a strong pat on the back. They followed him out the door and Nanako had a struggle letting go of his side.

"Bring me back tons of souvenirs or I won't forgive you for leaving me!" She said through tears. Yu promised he would and walked down the road. Looking back once to give one last wave.

 

"Senpai's here!" Rise yelled out. Yu met everyone at the gas station where they were sitting around Yosuke's car.  A small gray Honda that he didn't buy with his money. It was a gift from his parents before he even struck gold. A parting gift from what Yu's heard from Chie but he didn't know what she meant by that since Yosuke never really went anywhere.

"Took you long enough!" Chie said, eating out of a bag of Cheetos.

"Sorry...I couldn't decide on which shoes to bring." Everyone looked down at his bright shoes and they gave uneasy laughs. Obviously not sure whether to point out how bright and distracting they were. Yosuke, who was on the roof of his car snoring loudly, suddenly woke up at the noise and nearly rolled off. He turned his head lazily at his friend, rolled over and landed ungracefully on his feet and rubbed at his eyes.

"You took longer than any of the girls, dude, we're going to be late for our flight if we don't get our asses in gear." He stretched and popped his back. "Get your stuff in and let's gooo! Hey those are some cool shoes they make you stand out, nice." He pointed at Yu's shoes and the taller boy looked at him for any trace of sarcasm, but found none. He grabbed Yu's shoulders and urged him to pack his things in the back of the cramped car. How they managed to fit inside was a miracle. Chie had to sit on Yukiko's lap so they could all fit, but a miracle nontheless. Yu climbed into the passenger seat next to Yosuke who then handed the AUX cord to him.

"You have the honors partner." Yu took the AUX cord. Yu used to always put on his music for the group he always had something for everyone. Yosuke would only put on his when only the two were alone, seemingly embarrassed of what the others would say about his taste in music. It wasn't... bad.. to Yu at least, he tolerated the strange experimental tastes Yosuke sometimes had. It was like he couldn't decide what genre he liked. It was honestly all over the place. Yu hooked up his phone and picked the first song. It was a catchy pop song, Immediately the back of the car exploded in singing. Yu looked back at his friends and sang along with them.

"Oh god, these guys never stop singing this song!"

Yosuke laughed over the noise of off key singing and pulled out of the gas station. He drove on the road leading to Okina where their plane would be departing in an hour. This made Yosuke drive slightly faster than usual but was quickly scolded by Yu when he did. "Well, if someone wasn't late this wouldn't be a problem, bro!" Yosuke stopped at a light and tapped his free foot impatiently, Yu apologized again. "Gah, don't apologize you'll kill my vibe." He laughed.

 

"Stop arguing you two and listen to this!" Yukiko suddenly yelled from the back. Yu turned to look at them and it seemed like Rise was making them play a game. Her favorite game of hypotheticals no doubt. She was holding her phone and reading off the screen. "Would you rather be with the love of your life for two years and have it end, or never meet them at all?" The car got quiet as everyone thought of an answer.

"Never meet them at all." Yu said nonchalantly. It made sense to him. Why would you put yourself through the hurt of having to let go of someone you love? It's better to never meet them to save them both from heartbreak. Yu explained his answer and the group seemed to agree. "Deep as ever, that's our senpai." Kanji praised.

"Though I'd forever be curious about my soulmate Yu makes a good point." Rise frowned down at her phone deep in thought. Yosuke hummed next to him, ready to jump into the conversation. "Mmm... I'ma disagree with you there partner." Yu raised his eyebrows.

"Why?"

"Wouldn't it be kind of unfair to that other person?"

"What do you mean?" Kanji asked.

"Uhh like, what if the other person really needs you, they're having a really shitty time and they need you? It's pretty selfish to just not think about what the other person would think." Yosuke kept his eyes on the road keeping them glued there. Refusing to cast a glance at his friends. Yu half expected Yosuke to blush like crazy and turn around and say 'just kidding'! None of that happened, he was serious. Yu kept his eyes wide in surprise, where exactly did that even come from?

Chie let out a nervous laughter "alright that was interesting, uhh... What else you got there Rise?" Rise let out a yelp of surprise at the call of her name. The strange tension in the air obviously bothering her. Honestly it probably bothered everyone, there was a strange air around Yosuke that none of them could figure out. The pop star fumbled with her phone for a couple seconds.

"Oh, this one's a bit gross but..." Rise wrinkled her nose. "Lick someone's vomit or get urinated in your mouth and swallow it."

Everyone made noises of disgust, making heaving sounds.

"Lick someone's vomit"

Yosuke lightly punched Yu in the shoulder. "Dude, don't say such gross things!"

Yu gave his signature smile which was only visible if you concentrated on his expression for more than a couple seconds. It seemed like Yosuke's strange serious mood was gone and the whole car was loud with chatter and laughter.

* * *

 

 

"I'm not going to make it..."

"It's only a couple hours."

"So much shit can happen in those couple hours!"

"True. Maybe we'll crash and then get stranded on an island... Have you ever seen Lost?"

"Yeah I ha- what the hell, don't fucking say that or I'll pee!"

"Just don't pee into my mouth."

"W- what.. Oh my god, just, shut your mouth."

Yu was trying to calm down his best friend who was on the verge of having a panic attack. Turns out Yosuke has never been on a plane,excluding Rise and Naoto, neither have the others. Why would they? They were content in their small town. Though Yosuke was the only one pulling at his short ponytail nervously trying to control his bladder. The plane was still on the floor and his other friends were giddy with excitement, ready to take to the skies. Behind them, Yukiko and Chie were taking numerous selfies with Rise who sat behind them with Kanji. Naoto was in front of Yu and Yosuke, completely absorbed in a book.

The plane suddenly began to move and a woman's voice was heard through the speakers. Yu didn't hear any of it as Yosuke made incoherent noises and his hand snapped to Yu's sleeve digging his fingers into his skin.

"Wait till it's off the ground to cut off circulation to my hand." Yu laughed. Yosuke threw an angry glare at him and Yu felt guilty, he got off on teasing his best friend too much.

"Come here." Yu pulled Yosuke's head to his shoulder and the brunette tensed. "Push your face against my shoulder." Yosuke obliged obviously too panicked to argue about how close they were. "I used to do this to my mom when I was nervous on planes. It helped, though I think she was annoyed by it considering my face was full of snot and tears at the time. Can you imagine all the fancy dresses and suits I ruined?" Yu remembered how he would close his eyes tight and let the warmth of his mother's shoulder soothe his nerves. Yosuke's hands clutched tightly to his arms and his breathing was still uneven. "Deep breaths Yosuke."

Yu looked up to see Naoto peeking over to them. She gave a slight smile and soon returned to her book. Yu didn't have to turn around to know his other friends were also watching this scene unfold in front of them. Yu didn't feel any shame or embarrassment he was just helping out a friend. Maybe their stunned silence was aimed at how easily Yosuke broke down. Yu suddenly realized that none of his friends have ever seen how fragile Yosuke actually is. _Oh man he's going to be so embarrassed_ Yu thought.

Yu felt the weight of the plane suddenly pull of the ground and he heard Yukiko and Chie giggle. "Chie look! We're flying!"

Yu looked down at his friend. He was still shaking. "Yosuke, look outside." He tried to pull off the grip on his arm.

"Nuh huh, no fucking way, I'm going to.. I don't know have a heart attack or even worse pee myself and embarrass myself." He shook his head slowly.

"That's twice you mentioned urine Yosuke. Look, just take a small peek outside and then you can finally run off into the bathroom and pee or vomit. I'm sure that's another thing you feel like doing."

Yosuke finally lifted his head and looked to the side and grimaced. He reluctantly turned his body to the window. Before a sigh of relief could escape Yu, Yosuke was out of his seat, climbing over Yu and into the bathroom.

"Woah! I've never seen Yosuke-senpai act that way!" Rise exclaimed.

"You handled that like a pro." Kanji said.

 

Yu smiled at them and felt a bubble of pride in his chest traced with some guilt. He was sure Yosuke would complain about how he just killed off his last shred of dignity with that little stunt.

Yosuke came back with a tired expression he didn't say anything to the comments that were said to him as he made his way back to his seat. Yu frowned, his expression was the same how it was in the car before. Like he was closing himself off from the world. He looked to Yu and gave a small nod, and a grunt of appreciation Yu assumed. Then he put on his headphones and looked out the window before looking away, leaned his head back and closed his eyes.

Other than an uncharacteristically quiet Yosuke the plane ride went smoothly. The friends caught up on how their lives were now that they all just graduated. Rise talked about how she wanted to stop being an idol and become a journalist "people want to hear the truth so I want to be the face of the truth!" She smiled brightly. Kanji talked about how he was preparing himself to take over the textile shop and start up a teaching class for sewing and other crafts. Chie talked about how she was filling out applications to be able to go into Tokyo University and then into the Police Academy. She was still unsure if she wanted to join the Tokyo police force or stay in Inaba. Yukiko talked about her big projects for her Inn, now that it was practically hers she wants to bring in more tourists. So she was going to take courses to get a degree in travel and tourism. Naoto also shared her ideas for the future which wasn't as different from Chie's except she was sure about staying in Inaba. Yu was sure that tidbit made Kanji happy. She said she was aiming to be head detective maybe even the chief if circumstances called for it. Yu was extremely proud of his friends. He was even more happy he was able to stray away from any conversation that may lead up to what he was planning for his future.

 

"So, where's Teddie?" Yu asked he thought it was time to address the elephant in the room. "I haven't heard from him in a while and wondered why he didn't jump at the first chance at this trip." His friends exchanged uneasy glances. Kanji scratched at the back of his head ruffling up his black hair. He looked at the back of Yosuke's seat. Yu gulped, fearing the worst. What could have possibly happened that made his friends this quiet?

"He's not dead if that's what your thinking!" Kanji smiled, easing Yu's thoughts. "He went back to his world... Permanently." His hand clenched into a fist at the word. Yu took note of his friends' expressions and they were all looking at Yosuke's seat. Grey eyes wandered to the boy who was now sound asleep he could hear faint drumming from his headphones.

"Yosuke... Maybe... Kind of... Kicked him out." Chie explained. "There was kind of a really big fight... Punches were thrown, things were said, and there was... some blood." She frowned and looked down.

"If Kanji wasn't there to break them apart Yosuke probably would've killed him." Yukiko was also looking down her eyes were shut tight as if trying to erase a memory.

"You mean this Yosuke? This one here, who acted like a brother to Teddie and took care of him. Almost killed him...I don't believe it." Yu sounded angry but he wasn't sure at who. Not at his friends who were just trying to explain the absence of the loud, fun, and sometimes annoying blonde kid. Not at Teddie, of course not him it was probably a huge misunderstanding. Everybody knew how Teddie would cross lines because of his lack of knowledge of social cues and the real world in general. Not angry at his best friend who is extremely passionate about certain things. That he would get angry and violent if something he loved was threatened. It was one of the things Yu feared and admired about him. How he loved his friends with all his being that he would become very emotional. Yu couldn't be mad at him for whatever the reason was. He was mostly angry at the idea. The idea that his own two friends fought and physically too. This wasn't like the time Yosuke and him had a fistfight at the river. That was on friendly grounds, just a friend proving to his other friend that they were on equal grounds. Yu honestly thought it was some idiotic alpha male complex Yosuke had, but he just went with it to make the boy happy. Yosuke cared about Teddie almost as much as he cared about Nanako. It was a cute brotherly relationship, even with Yosuke's constant nagging. It was because he cared so it made it okay. Maybe Teddie never truly understood the whole brother dynamic and did Yosuke wrong? Yu pushed that thought away, Teddie may be a little dumb but he would never betray a friend. Maybe Yosuke went too overboard, got overly sensitive, made a mountain out of a mole hill, and blew up? That was a Yosuke-like thing to do that could be it.

"Hey, now don't get angry with us!" Rise pulled him out of his thoughts. He realized that his eyebrows were so deeply furrowed it was probably visible despite his bangs. "We don't know the full story, but if you do want to know I'm sure it couldn't hurt to tell you what we do know."

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Naoto said from the front. "This is Yosuke-senpai we are talking about."

"Ugh, yeah I know, but we all know that Yosuke-senpai would never tell Yu-senpai what happened with Teddie. Better for him to know now instead of having to argue with Yosuke-senpai to get answers!" Rise countered.

"You're right, proceed" Naoto agreed gesturing with her hand for Rise to continue. Rise looked back at him.

"I'm sorry, I'm not angry with you, it's... just really hard to process, go ahead." He smiled though it hurt to do so.

"Okay," she breathed out. She sat up straighter in her seat and started her story. "It was a couple weeks before your guys' graduation... Yosuke was helping us first years get straightened out for the trip, since we are going to be there shorter than you guys. We were all at the tofu shop discussing our traveling plans when Teddie came in. He asked Yosuke-senpai for money for some ice cream and he flat out refused. I guess there was underlying tension between them because the moment he said 'no' Teddie said, 'what else should I expect from the disappointment of Junes'. We didn't think much of it, well, because we all figured Yosuke-senpai was used to those kind of comments. But I guess something about this one snapped him. In just a of couple seconds he was pinning Teddie to the ground yelling at him. I didn't catch what nasty words the two were throwing at each other. I was frozen in place. I didn't even see who threw the first punch..." Rise's voice started to shake at the end. Chie reached to put her hand over Rise's to calm her trembling ones. "He.. almost killed him Yu... W-we're not even exaggerating. Kanji had to carry him all the way to Junes and into the t.v so we could heal him." Her voice coming out more strained not bothering to whisper anymore. Yu looked over at Yosuke who was still fast asleep. Rise didn't seem like she wanted to continue the story so Kanji took over.

"Yosuke-senpai followed us into the t.v. He really didn't say much just kinda stood there. Yukiko-senpai and Chie-senpai showed up and Yukiko-senpai fixed him right up. When he came to Yosuke-senpai told him he didn't want to see his face anymore. We were all kinda surprised, ya know. Something like that outta the blue sprung up on us. We offered the bear a place to crash but he wasn't having any of it. We've been Teddie-less ever since."

That was the end of their story and Yu stirred in his own thoughts. He wondered what sort of disagreement would have these two at each other's throats. He doubted Teddie was actually angry about being deprived of his cold sweets. Something triggered these two to push them past their tolerance limit. Yu thought Yosuke had a pretty high tolerance level so the list was short. Actually, there wasn't a list. He hasn't seen his friends and only communicated through messages. They could have easily hidden these details. Yosuke especially, he never gave any clue that he was dealing with some tough emotions. That made Yu's frustration towards Yosuke grow significantly. They made it a habit to tell each other everything, even the most minuscule things. Like the weird cloud formation he found the other day and how it looked like a cat. He sent a picture and Yosuke told him it looked nothing like a cat but a turtle hanging onto the talons of an eagle. Or like the day Yosuke shared his theories about aliens and other conspiracies. Yu humored him not actually sure if Yosuke was slowly becoming a conspirator. They talked about how different their friends sneezed. Granted it was one of the many strange conversations they had, but the two were to busy laughing at their cellphone screens to care. Yu pointed out that Yosuke had a really quiet sneeze and Chie had the loudest sneeze. They both realized they never heard Naoto sneeze. That led to another conversation about aliens.

Somewhere. Somewhere between all the plethora of idiocy he missed it. He tried to recall any conversation that felt off. Maybe if they actually did phone calls instead of texts he would've been able to hear a falter. something, anything that would've gave Yosuke away.

Teddie too, he also had a habit of telling Yu everything. Yu wouldn't always respond because most of the time Teddie would bombard him with messages and he ended up talking to himself. It was entertaining he wasn't going to lie. Even a small paper cut Teddie would be calling and texting him, panicking, asking if he was going to die. Could Teddie even die? Yu would wonder what Teddie was exactly freaking out about. Why would something as big as this go by Yu unnoticed? At least he didn't have to worry about Teddie's safety the t.v world was safe and restored back into its original state. Yu thought about the empty seat by Naoto where Teddie surely would've been. He would be asking questions about every aspect of the plane. he would have been excited about flying as much as the girls, and he would be trying to act cute around the girls. Hell, he'd be hitting on the old ladies that were across from them in the middle row. Yu smiled bitterly at the thought. There was a Teddie shaped hole in the dynamic of the old Investigation Team. The others must have thought the same because when Yu looked at them they were all looking into space in different directions. Yu decided it was best to let them stir in their own thoughts better for them to sort it out now than later. He promised himself that he would confront Yosuke about this. He just wasn't sure if he should wait till their trip was over or do it during, preferably after the now second years returned to Inaba. Waiting till after will surely cause Yu to be emotionally strained during the trip. He didn't want this trip to go to waste either...

Yu held back a sigh as he adjusted himself in his seat and pulled out his phone. They are to arrive at LAX in a couple more hours. Taking one last long look at his snoozing friend, he soon fell asleep as well. Wanting to sleep away the strained atmosphere that now hung above him like a heavy fog.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've had this AU in my mind for MONTHS and I've also been working on this chapter for months. Granted it may not be the best, but this fandom and ship were lacking a road trip au. I was going to pump this baby out once chapter 2 was done but I got ahead of myself. Also I wrote it as Yu because the name sounds cooler. So leave feedback and some kudos. I hope my writing gets better throughout this story. Thank you!


	2. The Ritz

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The gang arrives to the great city and Yu is starting to feel a little replaced. Just a little.

A strong jab at his side made Yu jolt awake. He tensed his muscles ready for a fight. His hands immediately going to over his face and fists clenched. All that time they used to spend in the T.V world heightened his reflexes. Yu realized it was Yosuke who poked him awake. Yosuke snickered at his reaction. Yu looked past Yosuke to the window it was dark outside and it seemed like most of the passengers were asleep or reading a book. His friends were also snoozing as if Kanji’s and Yukiko’s snoring wasn’t a clue enough.

“Hey.”

“Yo,” Yosuke still looked tired his eyes were red and his mouth opened wide for a yawn. “I’m bored. I don’t have a DS anymore, did you bring anything by any chance?”

“As a matter of fact,” Yu reached under his seat where he kept his backpack and pulled it out. He unzipped the large pocket and rummaged through books, notebooks, and random necessities. He made a small pleased sound and pulled out a Vita, he doesn't use it much, but it was a gift from his parents. Yosuke yanked away the handheld device from Yu’s hands. “Here you go?” Yu laughed at Yosuke’s desperation for entertainment.

“Dude, what the hell is this?” Yosuke flipped the Vita so Yu could see it. There was nothing but Otome games and a couple of Magical Detective Loveline games courtesy of Nanako. The dating games he bought as a joke. For himself, since he never once opened any of them.

“Those I believe, are games, Yosuke.”

“No fucking duh, but, why?”

Yu shrugged he wasn’t sure if Yosuke would find his reasoning funny anyways. “I never played them just so you know. Let’s just have a go at one of them.” The idea of playing a dating game with his best friend excited him. Yu decided it would be fun to watch since Yosuke seemed to have no luck with girls. “Maybe we can finally find out why you don’t have a girlfriend.” He smiled slyly he knew Yosuke would not be able to refuse a challenge.

That earned a punch in the shoulder “Shut up, you don’t have one either!” Yosuke made a strained face and sighed in defeat. “Fine, just, you pick one.” Yu took the Vita back and eeny, meeny, miny, moe-d it. “Don’t do that! What if you pick a friggin weird one? We’d have to sit through some like, sex scenes, and shit.” Yosuke said sex scenes in a hushed tone and made Yu laugh. Yu raised his brows.

“I think you’re forgetting my dear friend, that we already watched porn once together, we can handle a bit of 2d action.” Yu knew this would invoke Yosuke to stumble on his words and blabber like an idiot.

“That was once and it was super awkward!  You were the one that wanted to go through with it!” Yosuke pointed an accusing finger his face getting more red in embarrassment. He sounded angry but his eyes were telling a different story.

Yu laughed at the memory. Him and Yosuke were sitting on his bed, on his last visit during golden week all those months back. They were both on their respective laptops ‘dicking around’ as Yosuke would put it and Yosuke was sent a link through facebook. The sender was one of Yosuke’s old friends from the city. All they added to their message was that they found a funny video. They bet Yosuke couldn’t watch the whole thing without laughing. Yu didn’t bother pointing out what the link actually read, he knew Yosuke would be too caught up in the challenge that he wouldn’t read it. Oh, but Yu knew where that link would lead to he’s had to erase all evidence of that link from his history before. It wasn’t his first time in the ballpit. Once the page loaded Yosuke’s face changed from determined to absolute horror. Ah, that’s why they sent it. Yu’s eyes also widened in surprise as they watched two men go at it. Yu grabbed Yosuke’s hand before he clicked the x button from the tab. Yu reminded him of the challenge and Yosuke’s expression mirrored the one of a child who had their ice cream taken away. Utter desperation and zero trace of amusement. The two sat in silence for fourteen  minutes. Yosuke sent an angry emoticon to his friend and they both agreed to never talk about it again.

“Oh, come on, it’s been a long time since that happened. I think we can now laugh at it.” Yu smiled managing to show some teeth, which was one of his rare smiles. Yosuke rolled his eyes and took back the Vita.

“Whatever let’s play this dumb shit.”

-

**_“Senpai! You’re being too forward what would your classmates think…”_ **

“I don’t think you were supposed to hold her hand there.”

“You think?!”

Yosuke and Yu have been playing for a good hour and Yosuke has managed to get himself on the negative side of all the girls the game offered. Yosuke refused to take any of Yu’s advice. ‘it would totally defeat the purpose of finding out who was better with the ladies’ as the brunette had so lightly put. Yu wondered if he has ever heard of the term wingman, but he let him continue helplessly on his quest. The little heart symbol slid onto the red side of the love meter. What a shame, it was the only girl Yosuke hadn’t completely ruined his chances with. The game made it significantly hard for the player to get back onto the green side. Yosuke was sweating from embarrassment and he felt a strain in his mental state.

“These girls are confusing. I just want to make out with that one Rei chick!” Yosuke lifted his head and let it rest on the back of his seat. He was close to admitting defeat and Yu chuckled at his dilemma. Yosuke brought the handheld device up to his face. He stared hard into the screen as if willing the little heart to go back where it was with sheer mental power. He let out an exasperated sigh.

“Ugh, I give up. Here your turn. Just get me Rei and we can stop playing this stupid thing.” There it was Yosuke admitting defeat. Yu held the game in his hands and began playing through the last scenario of Yosuke’s mistake. He made his player go through a map to find Rei, who was a cute animated girl with blue shoulder length hair. She was the shy girl whose parents owned a restaurant. She met the main character on a delivery run. When first introduced she bumped into the character causing her delivery to smack her right in the face. Yosuke laughed and Yu felt sorry for her. Yosuke stated that she was the one and tried to get on her good side only to be ruined. Yosuke had a thing where he could put his foot in his mouth in any given situation, even in a video game he was a nervous train wreck. Yu chalked it up to pure talent.

Right when he was about to make his character walk to her the game started a cutscene. Usually cutscenes meant that a new character was going to be introduced. Yu slapped Yosuke’s arm in small rapid movements. He made an annoyed sound and looked to the screen. The game suddenly introduced a male character who was tall and lanky, he had red spiked hair and had a goofy grin. He was apparently the main character’s classmate and he needed help on his homework. His name was Kosei. Yu instantly made a connection to Yosuke and this character.

“Don’t tell me!” Yosuke looked mortified.

A little help screen appeared after Kosei was introduced. The game offered you a male romance route if your charm was at 0 and it so happened that Yosuke managed to do that himself. A sly smile appeared on Yu’s lips. Yosuke instantly caught it.

“OH no, you’re not making me do this!” He shook his head.

“Making you do what?”

The Vita was slapped out of Yu’s hand before he could even blink.

“Nothing, haha, nothing at all!” Yosuke gave Yu a guilty look before turning his attention to Chie. She poked her head between the two seats and was giving them an expression full of curiosity. Yu glared at the ground where his Vita landed screen to the ground. He let out a sigh of relief, it wasn’t broken but it turned off on its own. Thank goodness for auto saves.

“I was about to kick Yosuke’s butt…” Yu told Chie his disappointment was evident. Chie let out a small giggle.

“Losing to Narukami at a video game? Now you really hit the bottom of the barrel, Yosuke.”

Yosuke flared up at her comment. “I can kick your ass at any video game and you know it!” He said in harsh whispers barely containing his outburst. Chie snorted and then that led to another typical Satonaka vs Hanamura argument. Yu knew this is how they got along, but sometimes he wondered how you could contain a relationship that just holds so much… banter. At one point in time Yukiko started a betting pool that the two would end up dating. Yu himself put in some of his cash. He really didn’t think they would but he entertained the idea. That soon was stopped after Chie found out what her friends were doing behind their backs and forced them to buy her meals the entire month with the betting money.

Their arguing slowly stopped being angry whispers and their voices were rising with each comment. By then the rest of their friends woke up to see what the noise was. When Yu caught Yukiko’s stare he noticed she had a mischievous glint in her eyes. He rolled his own. ‘500’ she mouthed to him and he shook his head. ‘not happening’ he mouthed back.

“What the hell are you two saying to each other!” Chie stopped arguing with Yosuke and glared first at Yukiko and to Yu.  “Yukiko you can’t start another betting pool involving Yosuke! That’s like cheating!”

Yosuke raised his eyebrows and twisted further in his seat to look at Yukiko. Yu did the same and she looked away keeping her lips sealed in a tight smile trying to hold in laughter.

“Hello everyone this is your captain speaking we will be landing in about an hour so sit tight.”

At the tone of the speaker the mood changed in the group. They exchanged overexcited smiles the topic of betting pools soon forgotten.

“Ooh, this is really happening!” Rise said jumping in her seat with delight.

“I can hardly believe it myself, thank you Yosuke-senpai.” Naoto bowed her head politely towards Yosuke and he gave a crooked smile in return.

“Anything for you guys!” He directed his signature wink towards Yu. Speaking of guys, Yu lifted the Vita and waved it.

“I’m not letting this go by.” He put it back away in his bag and barely managed to hear Yosuke laugh and mutter ‘of course’.  

-

“Beach! Beach! Beach! Beach!” Chie and Rise were chanting from behind as they exited LAX. The sun was just beginning to set and the cool air hit the back of Yu’s neck and it cooled the nervous sweat he was getting. He didn’t realize how nerve-wracking it was to be in a different country. The cool air also caught him by surprise he thought it would be scalding hot but that didn’t seem to be the case at the moment. It didn’t take them long to realize they look so out of place and they wore the tourist look good. Kanji, who was pushing the luggage cart, was beside Yosuke discussing plans. Yu wished Yosuke shared the planning responsibility with him but the boy was adamant in doing it without his partner’s help. It gave the silver haired boy a pang of jealousy as he watched the two point at maps and talk hotels. It was silly but Yu didn’t like being left out of the loop.

 To distract himself he joined the girls in their awe of the big area. He knew they were being extremely loud because other people leaving the airport gave them strange looks and awkward smiles. There was a lot of people and Yu hoped that Rise wouldn’t get recognized, that would create a bigger scene than whatever they were doing now. Which was honestly being obnoxious, with their gasps and their exclamations of ‘oh my god look at that!’ They were busy trying to translate a nearby sign when Yosuke and Kanji walked their way. Yosuke was waving a set of keys as they neared.

“Our ride has arrived m’ladies.” Yosuke winked. They followed him towards their rental, which was a large black suburban. The latest model and it looked like it just rolled out of the factory the way it looked untouched. Yu couldn’t help but gape at the shiny car. Kanji gave him a hard slap on the shoulder. “Yosuke-senpai sure went all out didn’t he?” He gave a hearty laugh as he lugged all their belongings to the back. Yu opened the door to the passenger door only to be stopped by Yosuke who was already in the driver’s seat.

“Sorry partner, but do you mind sitting in the back this time? Kanji is manning the GPS I kinda need him.” He offered a sheepish smile. Yu was shocked to say the least he gave a small shake of his head.

“Oh that’s cool go ahead.” He held the door open for Kanji then made himself comfortable next to Rise in the second row. Yu watched as Yosuke plugged in his phone to the car and began playing music. Yu didn’t recognize the song but the back soon exploded in singing and dancing.

“Yosuke this car is so amazing!” Yukiko yelled over the loud bass. Kanji turned and answered instead. Much like Yu would if he were sitting there right now.

“I know right? Wait till you guys see the hotel!” Kanji turned his attention back to the small GPS in his lap. Rise hooked her arm to Yu’s and pressured him into swaying to the beat of the music. He was suddenly not in the mood to share their enthusiasm so the gesture annoyed him. He fell into the vibe of his friends so he wouldn’t upset them. They carefully drove away from the airport and onto the busy highways.

The sight of the ocean from the road made all the girls turn their attention toward it and they began chatting excitedly. _We’ve already seen the beach_ , Yu couldn’t help but think. They have seen it plenty of times but Yu figured it must be the novelty of seeing it from the other side of the world and from Los Angeles no less. He had to admit, as he saw the sun disappear behind the darkening blue of the ocean, that it did have a sort of magic to it.

The hotel was nothing Yu was imagining. Something simple with free Wi-Fi and breakfast was in his train of thought. This though, was beyond his expectations. Yu wondered if Yosuke also had extra money besides from what he won from the lottery. The Ritz Carlton one of Los Angeles luxury hotels raised the bar for any hotel. Yukiko was surely taking notes.

“Do you need help getting the room?” Yu offered to help Yosuke translate to the receptionist.

“No thanks, partner, but I got this!” He walked away toward the desk. He returned a couple minutes later with two keycards which he handed the second one to Kanji. That bothered Yu his grip on his bag tightened. He was beginning to feel more and more out of the loop. He wanted to slap himself for feeling jealous emotions. He should feel happy that Kanji and Yosuke are helping each other and getting along. Yosuke would always tease Kanji about his shadow in high school and it seemed like Yosuke stopped being childish and left it in the past. Kanji was surely more than grateful and with that awkward phase behind them the two could finally become the friends they had the potential to be. That shouldn’t bother Yu, it shouldn’t , but it did.

They stepped onto the elevator and Yu didn’t see what button Yosuke pressed but it took them a solid while to reach their floor. Seconds before the door opened Yosuke and Kanji looked back with a glint in their eyes. Rise was the first to catch on.

“You guys didn’t!” She pushed herself forward and the shiny metallic doors slowly slid open as if teasing them. The rest of the girls herded in front and Yu had to peer above heads to see what was ahead. Yu was expecting a lot of things; strippers, a celebrity, a giant cake, a giant buffet, but he was not expecting an executive suite at the top floor. He began to feel ashamed at the little faith he apparently had for his best friend. He was the last to step out of the elevator. The girls already trailing closely behind Yosuke as he opened the door revealing their room.  It was large and the white and beige colors made the room look delicate. Yu wondered about the price and he considered voicing his concerns, but that would dampen Yosuke’s spirits so he kept his mouth closed. The girls gathered to the panoramic window gasping at the city view. Yosuke disappeared into one of the rooms and Kanji settled their bags on the floor.  Yu stayed at the door letting his eyes slowly take in what he was seeing.

Two walls of windows letting light spill into the living room where a long eggshell curved sofa was a small round wooden stylish coffee table was in the center. It faced a rather large flat screen, which Chie already took the liberty of turning on. On the other side of the living room was two couches and two loveseats arranged in a way that would be good to have a talk session at. The main area was open and bright. It reminded him a bit of his parent’s apartment from the city. Except the colors were more gray darker tones and the decorating was dull due to them hardly being home. The room was nothing like the traditional rooms from the Amagi Inn. He felt like businessmen and other important people should be here instead of a bunch of teenagers who struck gold. He wandered into the bathroom which was also just as impressive. The bathtub was square and looked like it could fit ten people. The walls were covered in a beige marble. The glass shower was every bit as elegant as the rest of the room. It had no regular showerhead instead it had a ceiling mount. Yu’s never seen one in person before and honestly he was eager to step into it already. He found another door and opened it only to find the bedroom which Yosuke was at splayed on the king sized bed. His hair was an even bigger mess and his shoes were off. It looked like he had been rolling around in the bed the way the pillows and sheets were already out of place. There was another large flatscreen. Yet another windowed wall was there on the far right side. The room stepped down to another area with a loveseat. Where a couple could be up to some private business while they overlooked the city.   

“Damn” He couldn’t help but let that slip out as he looked towards the famous city and its lights.

“I know right!” Yosuke laughed.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Btw, this fic is gonna be a slow build.These first few chapters will be kept short just for introductions sake. I have a whole bunch of shenanigans planned for these guys. This is not even the tip of the iceburg. We're on the boat heading towards the iceburg. That's right we're on the titanic.


	3. As Red As Yosuke's Sunburn

Everyone now sat in front of the living room T.V, They all were watching some American cooking show and trying to rest the jet lag off, though Yu was the only one paying attention to the blonde woman preparing chicken parmesan.  Rise was the first to pass out on the sofa next to her senpai’s arm. The room was full of chatter until a couple minutes earlier when exhaustion finally caught up to them.

“Oh boy, the room is spinning. I’m gonna go ‘head and sleep, later partner.” Yosuke said his goodnights to the rest and headed for the bedroom. It was a mutual agreement that he should get the king sized bed. It was a gesture of gratitude for their friend. He argued that they should take turns with the bed for the 5 days they’re staying. No one argued after that.

When deciding sleeping arrangements for the night Yu was quick in taking the loveseat in the bedroom. Sure, it earned him a few curious looks, but he was impatient for some alone time with his best friend. Plus he hoped Yosuke would share some of the traveling plans before the night ended.

As soon as Yosuke left, Kanji from his spot on the floor, turned toward the four still awake on the sofa.

“We should call it a night too, we gotta wake up early to talk ‘bout plans and stuff.” He said before letting out a loud yawn. Yukiko and Chie gave him eager nods. They sleepily dragged their feet towards their designated sleeping area. The silver haired boy gave Kanji a quick thumbs up. He turned off the T.V and left for the bedroom.

He was slightly surprised to find Yosuke already sleeping. He felt a mild disappointment. He let out a sigh he didn’t think it was possible to be this annoyed with not being able to talk with his best friend. It’s not like they haven’t been communicating in the seven months they have last seen each other. Yu walked over to the bed and placed his hands on his hips. Yosuke was in nothing but his blue boxers not even under the covers. As Yu was about to make the move to place Yosuke under the covers, his brain decided to halt his movement to admire the view.

The brunette was on his stomach and his head was to the side. Lips were slightly parted letting out soft quiet breaths. The moonlight hit his back in such a way that it left Yu slightly breathless. His lean muscles were more defined in this lightening and Yu was surprised to feel a growing tightness in his pants. The sudden need to run his tongue down his best friend’s spine was certainly unnerving. He looked away to collect his cool, blaming that particular set of thoughts on jet lag.

A sleepy laugh from the shirtless boy caught his attention. He froze. Had his friend caught him practically drooling? Yu’s mind went in a panic trying to pull a perfect excuse, but a soft snore put him at ease. Smiling at his own paranoia Yu carefully flipped Yosuke over. Yu was thankful the boy is heavy sleeper. He now had room to peel one side of the blankets back. With the blankets now ready for someone to snuggle under them Yu hoisted Yosuke up bridal style. Deciding to spoil himself one last time Yu took one last once-over at Yosuke. He stopped at his toes and laughed softly.

“You have cute toes… I never noticed.”

Yu tucked Yosuke in safe under the warmth of the blankets. Stepping away from the bed Yu removed his own clothing and put on his regular pajamas. He stole some extra blankets from the large bed and pulled out his own pillows from his suitcase. It took him six minutes before he made the loveseat suitable for his taste. He got under the thin white blanket and succumbed to sleep facing the view of the city.

-

The smell of bacon and pancakes penetrated through Yu’s unconscious mind. Soon his dreams of rescuing cats from the tallest of trees were all of tall strips of bacon and cat shaped pancakes. His empty stomach’s protests were enough to wake him. He slowly opened his eyes letting his eyes adjust to the obscenely bright room. He somehow ended up on the floor one leg still on the loveseat.

He groaned loudly as his head hit the coffee table nearby. Rise peeked her head in carefully into the room.

“Breakfast is ready senpai!” He looked upside down to her and she was already dressed in full makeup and the most adorable outfit. She wore white cutoff shorts and a loose pale yellow blouse with white tennis shoes. To top it all off a floral visor adorned her head she had low ponytails to keep her long hair from getting in the way. God, he loved it when they looked like tourists. They looked tacky as hell and something about that was charming to Yu. He gave her an upside down thumbs up in response.

As she left the room he stretched and yawned loudly. He felt a crick in his neck from sleeping oddly and the carpet left an imprint on the side of his face. He immediately felt embarrassed as he realized he was the last one to wake up. In the living room his friends were enjoying breakfast, it was the most elegant hotel food he’s ever seen.

“Come and eat, partner!” Yu would have loved to go back into the room to get dressed up, but his stomach got the better of him. He situated himself on the floor and forced himself between Kanji and Yosuke who were sitting too close for Yu’s comfort. He knocked Kanji’s elbow making him drop a spoonful of cereal in the process. Kanji made a disappointed sound and Yu went red with shame. Yosuke ignored the rude gesture and gladly handed Yu a plate full of bacon, eggs, and pancakes.

“Eat up, partner we got a big day ahead of us.” He grinned. Yu wasted no time digging his fork into the eggs. It was definitely the best hotel food he’s ever had. He heard the sound of a camera going off and quickly looked toward the sound. Rise was busy snapping pictures and she managed to catch Yu off guard. Her eyes widened and she began giggling passing around the camera to the other girls. Yu usually would not be worried about someone taking pictures of him. He considered himself to be a photogenic guy, but the way the girls laughed certainly made him second guess that.

“What are you guys doing? Let me see.” Yosuke frowned and reached to grab the camera away from Yukiko who began a laughing fit.

“Looking good, Yu.” He smirked showing the picture Rise took. Yu chuckled as he admired the picture. His eyes were half closed and his mouth open while he put food into his mouth and he looked messy. Yu was pretty sure that he could see the dried saliva from his drooling last night. It was an insanely unattractive picture if he was being completely honest with himself.

“You should print copies of that, I want to frame this moment.” Yosuke said handing the camera back to its owner.

“Are you sure you don’t just want it for your Yu Shrine?” Chie teased.

“What! I do not have a- what the hell?”

“It’s okay Yosuke-senpai I understand” Rise nodded her head.

-

Once breakfast was over and they cleaned up after themselves. They all gathered in the bedroom Yu was freshly showered and was in his best outfit. Tacky Hawaiian button up and cargo shorts complete with fanny pack. Naoto and Yosuke certainly gave him disapproving looks. Whatever, Rise and Kanji thought it was cute. Yosuke leaned against the foot of the bed, arms crossed.

“Alright guys, it’s officially day one of what’s going to probably be the best summer you’ve ever had. As you all know we got 5 days to enjoy ourselves then we head to Vegas for two weeks.”

Yu had no idea about the second part of the trip. Hearing about Las Vegas was news to him, but the rest didn’t seem as confused as he felt. Now that was certainly frustrating. Just how much information has Yosuke omitted from him? He hoped it was just something that slipped Yosuke’s mind. He must have been busy setting up this whole trip for them so Yu couldn’t be too mad. There’s a lot Yosuke’s been hiding from him apparently.

“-so today we enjoy ourselves at Santa Monica beach, then we head to a restaurant to eat before we enjoy our night at the Pier.”

Everyone lit up upon hearing beach. Yu was more excited about the Pier, he’s seen it thousands of times in movies and heard fishing was allowed. He also always wanted to ride the Ferris wheel. He imagined himself there looking up at the stars. It would be quiet-well, besides the obvious background noise of people below- but no one to interrupt his thoughts. Maybe it would be nice to bring someone up there with him to hold their hand. His mind automatically went to Yosuke’s hand. He imagined how it’d be like to hold his hand. They didn’t look like they’d be rough to the touch, probably smooth with a couple of permanent scars from their days in the T.V. It was probably a weird thing to think about considering he was thinking about holding his best friend’s hand. Yu decided he should forget about that he doesn’t think Yosuke would take too kindly about holding hands anyways.

-

“I didn’t think there would be this many people.” Naoto said as they neared the sandy beach her large sunhat bumping into your shoulder. She looked mildly uncomfortable with the number of people littered on the sand.

“Oh Naoto, that’s just how things are in the big cities, just think of them as friends you haven’t met yet!” Rise perked up. The group of friends tried to find a good spot before their feet gave up on the hot sand.

“Here please let’s just stop here.” Yosuke gasped sweat rolling off his forehead. He dropped his towel on the floor and ran off to the water to cool off.

“Wait, Yosuke don’t you want some sunscreen?!” Yukiko yelled at him but her words didn’t reach her he was already knee deep in the ocean. Yu shook his head and made a mental note to remember to buy sunburn cream. Someone is going to seriously need it. He laid out his towel and slathered his own sunscreen on. He watched as Chie and Rise halfheartedly put on their own missing spots on their arms and legs. Kanji offered to rub some on their backs but was quickly shot down. One, two, three quick slaps of sunscreen on each other’s backs and they were off to join Yosuke in the salty water.

Kanji and Yukiko took more care with their sunscreen and helped each other get all the hard to reach places. They seemed in a less rush to get to the water. Once at the edge they were content just sitting at the shoreline. He looked over to Naoto who sat under her beach umbrella arms wrapped her knees.

“Are you doing okay?” He asked moving to sit under the umbrella with her. He took two water bottles from his pack and handed one to her.

“Oh, yes thank you, just slightly overwhelmed.” She responded her voice sounded distant. And she simply played with the ridges of the water bottle running her fingernails on them. He nodded without saying anything in return.

She fidgeted for a couple more moments and then turned to Yu.

“Why aren’t you over there joining them?”

He was slightly taken back with the question. The water did sure look nice but he just simply was not in the mood to join the rest of his friends in the fun. Yu shrugged taking a large gulp of water.

“I see, we probably both have different reasons for avoiding the fun, nevertheless I am glad you didn’t leave me here alone.” She breathed in relief knowing Yu wasn’t just going to leave her in the middle of the loud crowd.

“So did you ask Yosuke-senpai about his situation with Teddie?” She said it was obvious she was antsy to get to the bottom of this.  Yu frowned and shook his head.

“No, sorry I can’t seem to find a good moment to ask about it, it’s fairly obvious our group is missing someone but Yosuke is adamant on not letting us linger on it.” He hoped he wasn’t the only one that didn’t notice how Yosuke was trying to keep them busy and seemed to avoid Yu. Yosuke probably knew that Yu would eventually ask and was trying to distract him.

“Well it does seem Yosuke did put a little more effort on this trip, if only he put this amount of effort into his schoolwork.” She laughed dropping the Teddie issue altogether.

“Are you sure you don’t know why the fight broke out?” He prodded if anyone knows something it would be Naoto.

“Yu-senpai, you should know that my curiosity does draw lines I do respect the privacy of our dear Yosuke-senpai.” She said in a disapproving tone, putting her thumb and forefinger on each side of her chin she hummed.

“But, if you must know, yes I did do some private investigating on the matter. Going back into the T.V world to speak to Teddie one last time before we left and he did release some information, well, as much as he was willing to give.” She gave Yu a sly smile. He knew his friend wouldn’t resist the opportunity, and he needed as much information if he wanted to get anything out of Yosuke. He couldn’t go into battle without any artillery!

“For the majority of the part he told me that it was Yosuke senpai’s responsibility to divulge the major details, but he did mention he felt guilty for prodding too much into Yosuke-senpai’s personal life. Something about making him feel worse about a topic he was already sensitive about. What that could be exactly Teddie couldn’t say, but we could make our own assumptions.”

Naoto said more seriously. The list of things Yosuke was sensitive about was practically endless and their friends all knew this. It could be a number of things that finally set him off: his weird fear over seafood, his unironic love for awful American bands, or the sequence of moles that almost make the little dipper.

Naoto noticed his pondering and nudged with her elbow. “Don’t worry senpai we’ll figure it out.” She smiled and the way she did made him wonder if she knew more than she was letting on.

-

As predicted Yosuke came back as red as a chili pepper and his skin was sensitive to all and any touch. Luckily for him Yu had time to rush to a store for sunburn relief ointment and bought an extra bottle for Rise and Chie who had small blotches of sensitive skin.

They all crowded under Naoto’s umbrella to take a small nap. Naoto offered to stay with them so Yu could have some time to cool off in the water. He voiced his gratitude and did just that. When he came back all his friends were napping in uncomfortable positions. He managed to wake them to remind them about dinner. Kanji groaned as his stomach roared.

“Yosuke you better take us to a buffet because I am starving to death!” Chie moaned wrapping her arms around her empty stomach.

“Hey I’m suffering too but, yes luckily for you I do have a specific buffet in mind.” He stretched out before gathering his things and began to get off of the sand.

-

“Seafood buffet?!” Everyone but Yosuke exclaimed.

“Who are you and what have you done with Yosuke.” Yu accuses. They stand in front of the lavish Vegas Seafood Buffet only a couple minutes from the beach.

“Hey just because I have a weird thing about fish doesn’t mean I should deprive my friends of it, besides seafood isn’t just fish ya know!” He points a finger at Yu and then charges into the restaurant.

The food was as amazing as Yu was expecting it, but he was pretty sure he’s had enough seafood to last him a lifetime. Kanji and Chie were worse off, The two squared off in a shrimp eating competition and they only called it a tie after what seemed to be their seventh plate full of shrimp. They both sat in stiff angled positions for a long time after that. Yukiko helped Chie up to go the bathroom and mumbled something about never eating shrimp again. Kanji dragged his feet after them too. A couple of employees sent them amused looks and he couldn’t help but notice other people starring at them in annoyance probably wondering what a bunch of Japanese kids were doing here. Yosuke told them to ignore them. Yu was mostly surprised by how easily Yosuke brushed off their judging looks. Usually he’d be shielding his face from the public eye in a im-not-with-these-idiots manner. Yu guessed it had something to do with the fact that they were in a different country.  Besides that dinner went fine.

By the time they got to the pier the sun has set and the Pier was a shining star by the shoreline. Chie, Rise, and Yukiko ran off ahead of them to the small stands selling a variety of trinkets. Naoto and Kanji both disappeared into the bumper cart line. Which only left Yosuke and Yu to their own devices and Yu was glad he was finally getting some alone time with his best friend.

They had a lot of catching up to do, a lot.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> holy fuck, i didn't almost forget this existed nope not at all!!  
> im sorry.


	4. Enough

They were finally alone and Yosuke wasted no time in opening his mouth. He immediately began rambling about his new managerial position at Junes and the housewives that annoyed him to no end.

“Ugh don’t get me started on Ms. Yashiro she comes in everyday at 1! Why at 1, hell if I know dude, she’s always looking at the hardware supplies. Maybe she’s working on something, but what!” Yosuke threw his hands in the air.

Yu only smiled in return, a small warmth filling his chest at being able to see Yosuke again. It’s been too long and he wanted to hold his hand as they walked down to the part of the Pier where people would fish. It was darker there far from the blinding lights of the carnival and loud sounds of excited people.

The laughter and chatter was just a buzzing sound in Yu’s mind as he honed in on Yosuke’s voice. It sounded deeper he thought and didn’t crack as much as it used to. Does that much change in one year? Apparently so because now Yosuke didn’t seem like the nervous kid he used to be. Naoto and Kanji are not as awkward around each other anymore. Rise and Chie were now attached to the hip and Yukiko was louder and more assertive. It seemed like everyone changed but Yu. Before he could sink lower into the self-deprecating hole he’s been enjoying to dig himself into lately Yosuke’s voice pulled him out.

“Anyways, enough about my shitty year what about yours?” Yosuke turned to him. His dark hair softly blowing in the breeze tickling his cheek, and Yu had to blink a couple of times before he could say anything.

Yu’s year before coming back was pretty eventless as he could recall. He’s done nothing but study for entrance exams and then go home feeling exhausted. He didn’t have the time to get a part time job when his head has been buried in books. And it looked like it had an impact on his social life.

“It’s been pretty boring without you, Yosuke.”  He said instead.

“Oh c’mon dude, I’m pretty sure you had a girlfriend or two to keep you entertained.” He winked back.

Yu shook his head a girlfriend was the last thing on his mind. He felt a lump in his throat as he found it hard to tell Yosuke the truth. How could he, especially the way he used to treat Kanji? Although it seemed like it was all water under the bridge between them and Yosuke was more mature.

“So, no girls drooling over you for every second of your life? Man, Inaba never got enough of that Yu suavity”  Yosuke laughed. He pushed himself off the railing and began walking back.

“That’s a two dollar word there, Yosuke.” Yu points out sarcastically. Yosuke rolls his eyes.

“Let’s get on the Ferris wheel, I’m tired of standing.” He sighed and stretched his back to add effect.

They bought drinks before getting on the ride and the pimply teenager that let them on the ride raised an eyebrow at them Yosuke didn’t notice it. As weird as Yosuke is about some things he sure doesn’t see the line between friendship and romance. Ferris wheel rides are romantic and Yu was pleasantly surprised that Yosuke suggested it first.

“You don’t think this is weird?” Yu asks as they step onto the ride. They start making a slow ascend and Yu sips nervously at his drink that he got before boarding the wheel.

“Nah dude, this is pretty neat.” Yosuke responds peeking over the edge. Yu hopes neither of them discover they’re afraid of heights. Instead of looking down Yu looks up at the stars he sits down to admire them better. There weren’t that many out in account of all the lights. One could almost call this romantic if they weren’t at complete opposite sides of the small carriage.

Yu played with the idea of telling him now. He had nothing to lose, except maybe his friendship. Yu didn’t believe he would break off their friendship over something so small. But, maybe Yosuke wouldn’t think of this as something small. Yu has kept this from him for so long. The carriage reached the top and Yosuke stepped away from the edge.

“Got dizzy there for a second.” He chuckled and sat next to Yu.

He might as well.

“Hey, Yosuke?” His voice was trembling and he scowled.

“’Sup?”

“Can I tell you something?” He avoided looking at Yosuke.

“Yeah man anything.”

“Promise you won’t freak out on me?” Yosuke was making it hard to avoid his gaze when he was looking straight at Yu.

“Uhh, I guess?” Yosuke started to sound nervous as well.

“I’m gay.”

Yu breathed out. It felt nice to finally say it aloud. He’s never said the word out loud. Not even when he came out to his parents. Or more like they had already guessed it and let it pass without the conversation going into depth. It was also no secret at his school which explained why he’s been so alone.

Yosuke didn’t respond and the silence hurt Yu more than any words could. He looked at the brunette’s face for any emotion, but it was blank still looking straight up at the stars. That wasn’t even half of Yu’s confession and Yosuke was acting like he didn’t hear anything.

 Thankfully they were the first ones to get off the ride and Yosuke got up without a word. They were greeted at the bottom by Chie who was urging them to go watch Yukiko eat a really large funnel cake.

“Ooh, a Ferris wheel how romantic, Yosuke.” She teased and bumped Yosuke in the hip. He gave a fake laugh in return and they walked ahead of Yu which gave him the perfect opportunity to escape.

He didn’t realize the sob he was holding in until he left the pier. He walked along the shoreline and cried himself out. He knew telling him was a mistake he had no idea why he opened his mouth in the first place. He single handedly ruined their friendship and the rest of their vacation. This may be the last trip they get to take together before they go off to college and Yu ruined it. He was just so tired of lying to everybody and to himself.

He was in love with his best friend and he was ashamed of it. The moment he realized these feelings were his death sentence. It wasn’t when they were busy chasing down a serial killer, or in any other of their crazy adventures. No, he realized it during a phone call they were bantering as usual when Teddie interrupted and he could hear them arguing over the phone. Yosuke sounded furious but was obviously concerned for Teddie’s supply of ice cream. Yu just couldn’t help but smile during that. It snuck up on him after that almost like being bitten by a snake. It was quick and it was painful.

It was true that Yu always favored Yosuke, but it was all chalked down to ‘because we’re best bros’ and Yu accepted that. He himself thought that was the case because he’s never had a best friend let alone a friend he loved and cared for so deeply so falling in love with Yosuke was easy. But he feared his feelings for him and for good reason. Now he was wallowing in self-pity like some sort of loser.

“Yu?” A woman’s voice called out from behind him. He turned to see Rise walking toward him. Yu wiped away at some stray tears.

“Hello Rise.” He smiled.

“Are you okay?” She held up a hand to her eyes. She knows he’s been crying Rise has always been good at figuring people out. There was no hiding the truth from her.

“Was it Yosuke? I only say that because I asked him where you were and he responded very rudely, ‘I don’t know his life you go find him’” She mimicked Yosuke and he laughed a bit at that. He figured there was no point in lying to her.

“Yeah, it was him alright.” He pursed his lips and turned away from her walking away from the water. She followed him trailing only a few inches away. Yu hoped she hasn’t figured out his secret. Last thing he needed was for Rise of all people to try to fix things. He trusted her but trusting her with his romantic life was a different story. He stopped walking and plopped down on the sand she stayed standing.

“Is this about what happened with Teddie?” She said and honestly he forgot about Teddie whatever happened between the two of them seems so trivial now, then Yu couldn’t help himself.

“I told him that I’m gay.” He said plainly to her which might have been a mistake. For a second he completely forgot that Rise has had a not so subtle crush on him since they met. His eyes widened ashamed of himself and he looks up at her. She’s looking down sadly. Yu’s heart breaks even more.

“I guess I should’ve have seen that one coming.” She laughed softly and then sat down getting sand all over the light blue dress she changed into.

“I mean, the way you always treated Yosuke and how you’d completely ignore me sometimes.” She sighs and puts her hand on Yu’s. He doesn’t move it away.

“Sorry about all that I never could find a way to turn you down I figured it would go away.” Yu couldn’t ignore the way Rise looked like she wanted to cry. He held her hand and then moved it towards his lap softly massaging her soft knuckles with his thumb.

“I never did stop loving you, you big doofus.” Her laugh turns into a quiet sob and she lets a tear fall but she still smiles at Yu. He realizes he never actually knew the extent of her love for him. He’s downright angry with himself for letting her suffer for so long.

“I’d be no good for you anyways, you love the fame and you’d be moving around a lot. I’ve had enough of moving around plus can you imagine what your fans would do if they found out you had a boyfriend.” He lets out an exasperated sigh for a comedic effect. It doesn’t suit him.

“I would quit all of that for you,” She huffs but it sounds unsure. “I would even have my studio broadcast our wedding to show our love!” Yu shakes his head and laughs.

“I would cheat on you with our hot gardener.”

“I would fire him and hire a girl gardener and still love you.”

“I would download gay porn.” Yu says with a blush.

“I would… watch it with you!”

“That’s weird.”

They laugh till their stomachs hurt and then fall into a comfortable silence. They’re still holding hands and they’re thighs are touching. Yu can feel the warmth from her side and it’s almost comforting.

“We should make out.” Rise finally breaks the silence and she looks at Yu with determination. That suggestion throws Yu off but he shrugs.

“Why the hell not?” He figures it wouldn’t hurt maybe he would like it and he can like a girl for real.

He cups her cheek and brings her slowly closer. She’s impatient and rushes right into the kiss. It’s immediately uncomfortable their noses bump into each other hard and Yu can feel blood rushing to his head but Rise ignores it. Her tongue runs over his bottom lip and he makes a noise at that not liking the sensation. He complies and lets her in every part of Yu’s mouth is shying away from her eagerness.

She breaks apart from him and a trail of saliva follows she frowns. She twists her mouth to the left and hums.

“That was gross.” She says laughing.

He wipes at his mouth with both of his sleeves and agrees. Rise rubs at her nose it’s turned red and Yu can’t tell if it’s from the cold or the collision their noses took.

“Does that settle anything for you?” Yu asks and gets up he offers his hand to Rise but she gets up on her own.

“Most definitely, forget about all of that we just said your bad kissing is a deal breaker for me.” She crosses her arms. Yu is almost offended he’s pretty sure he wasn’t the one practically slobbering over the other, but he shrugs and lets her have that one.

“Wanna head back?” She asks and he nods.

Yu follows her back to the others and is smiling from ear to ear. He hasn’t had a chance to talk to Rise in a long time either and now that the one sided romantic tension is gone he feels like he can finally be a real friend to her.

-

Yu’s smile fades away when they catch up to the others. Chie seems to be comforting a Yukiko who just finished what appears to be her third plate of the giant funnel cakes. Yukiko has her head down at the table and Chie is smiling and rubbing her back telling her ‘I told you’. Naoto is sitting across from Yukiko looking amused at the debacle. That isn’t what makes Yu completely and utterly annoyed.

Kanji and Yosuke are not too far off from them but Yosuke has an arm around Kanji. Most certainly in the ‘no homo’ fashion something he can’t do with Yu now. They’re laughing and talking just like Yu and Yosuke would be. Rise looks at Yu worryingly. Yu clenches his fists as he watches them.

“There you guys are, you totally missed it!” Kanji yells at them and urges them to come closer. They walk over to the table and Yu notices the way Yosuke will just not look at him. Chie starts to talk about Yukiko’s endeavor, but Yu doesn’t hear any of it. He’s concentrated on the distant look Yosuke has as he looks down at his shoes. Yu decides it’s the most pathetic thing he’s ever seen.

Every bone in his body is jealous. He isn’t denying that feeling anymore. He isn’t happy that they’re getting along more than usual. No, he’s furious. Not only is he furious at them he’s angry at his friends for changing so much while leaving him behind. He was supposed to be their leader. Yosuke was supposed to look up to him he was supposed to accept Yu for who he was. Yu is almost scared about realizing how he truly feels, but he accepts those ugly thoughts. After all they spent almost a whole year accepting their true selves.

Yu was going to do something about his static character. He was going to show Yosuke that he’s changed, he’s going to show him who he truly is whether he liked the new Yu or not.

 

  

 


	5. Chilled Cocktail

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things don't go as Yu expected

Yu spent so long suppressing his feelings for his best friend. He spent so long suppressing his attraction to men. All of the pent up feelings were finally catching up to him in the form of jealousy and a half-baked idea.

“Hey Rise, how far do your celebrity connections go?” Yu asked innocently enough taking a seat in front of Yukiko who is still recovering. Rise blinks and tilts her head.

“That’s odd of you to ask, but I have a few out here.” She slowly pulls out her phone from her white purse. She keeps her eyes on Yu as if he might say anything else but he doesn’t. He puts his chin on his hands and watches her scroll through contacts on her phone. He notices Chie and Yukiko tuning in to their conversation and exchange interested glances.

“Hey is Rise going to hook us up with some celebrity swag?” Chie smiles leaning over the table in excitement. Yu looks at her and winks.

“That’s the plan.” He feels Yosuke’s stare on him. Whatever he does not have time to worry about what Yosuke might think. He’s done enough of that.

“Oh yes, there’s a PR manager I know on tour with a band here.” She frowns at her screen scrolling through her twitter. She’s going so fast Yu wonders if she’s even reading them.

“Check it out the concert is tonight at a night club.” She shows the phone to the rest. Yu has never heard of the band but that didn’t matter he was going to mingle. With Rise as his wing woman.

Chie and Yukiko immediately squeal in excitement they know the band and begin to beg Rise to get them in the club. Naoto cringes at their loud voices. Rise laughs and looks to Yu.

“Sounds like it’ll be a good time, let’s do it!” He smiles and pounds a fist on the table, startling the girls for a millisecond.

Yosuke finally speaks up.

“Uh, I don’t know guys it’s past 10…”

Kanji slaps his back which nearly knocks the wind out of Yosuke.

“C’mon senpai, it’s not always we get to schmooze with celebrities!” He smiled giving Rise and Yu a look of approval. Yu felt a twinge in his heart, a sadness, he didn’t want to harbor ill feelings towards the soft-hearted man. Yet here he was grinding his teeth trying to keep himself from showing any disdain.

Suddenly he noticed that Naoto was studying him carefully, no doubt already sensing his negative thoughts. Yosuke then looked at Naoto probably hoping that she would also disapprove of going to the club.

“I think it’ll be fun, I say we go and see for ourselves.” She smiled softly and closed her eyes. Masking her true intentions.

Yu was almost taken aback by her sudden declaration. He was certain that she would do anything to avoid loud rowdy places full of drunk morons. However, there was a something about the way she side-eyed him. Like she was trying to figure Yu out he almost let his sly smile fall.

“I think that settles it,” He said getting up out of his seat, the others followed his movement. Chie, Yukiko, and Kanji looked giddy for a new adventure. Rise immediately went to Yu’s side looking at him almost with the same curiosity Naoto had. If Yosuke was giving him a nasty look he missed it.

The group began to walk out of the pier going against the small crowds piling in hoping for some last-minute fun before most of the shops and rides closed. Yu and Rise took the lead, Rise opening up the directions for the club.

“Where is this club anyways?” Yukiko asked trailing slightly behind Rise her arm looped around Chie’s.

“It’s called West End, it’s really popular apparently. I hope Mai-san got my text message or we’ll have made the walk for nothing!” Rise answered fixing up her hair back into her usual high ponytails.

Trying to look more recognizable, Yu concluded. He glanced at her phone at where exactly they were walking to.

“Wait a hot second!” Yosuke pushed between them.

“Why can’t we just take the car? It beats walking back.” Yosuke pushed his way between the stride Rise and Yu picked up.

“Besides we only paid for 3 hours.” He continued. Rise and Yu exchanged glances as if trying to read each other’s mind.

“You worry too much I’m sure it’ll be fine. You really think they check?” Rise answered hooking her arm with Yosuke tugging him closer to her. She gave him her signature eyelash flutter and he gave in with a sigh. He side-eyed Yu with no readable expression. Yu wondered when he learned to keep a straight face.

**___________________________**

The club was a solid 20-minute walk. They would’ve gotten there in 10, but Chie had to stop and practically drool over the food from the handful of upscale looking restaurants they passed by.

The building was almost bland and only had a few odd looking Americans wandering about. He’s seen his fair share of Harajuku girls in Tokyo, but that fashion is silly and fun… in it’s own sense. These however were almost threatening in a way. Women showing so much skin it even made Yu blush. Men with long hair he recalled being dread locks, men with no shirts showing off their thick muscles. The girls, save for Rise, huddled closer to Kanji. Unlike Yosuke or Yu Kanji somewhat fit in he imagined he’d blend in perfectly if this were 2 years ago.

 Rise started leading them away from the entrance to the back where there were large black vans carrying band equipment. People were unloading the trucks and he could see a woman standing by barking orders. She had short blonde hair and pale skin. She had hoop earrings so large it gently touched her shoulders. She was dressed in a modern punk fashion. Long trench coat and spiked boots.

“Mai-san!” Rise waved her arm around and the woman’s scary demeanor dropped as soon as she looked their way.

“Rise-chan!” She wrapped her arms around the smaller idol and spun her around. She too had muscular arms and her right arm covered in tattoos. Everybody else seemed to relax slightly. Naoto however still looked on edge keeping close between Yu and Kanji. Yu almost felt guilty for dragging her out here, but before he could linger on the feeling he noticed the woman Mai-san was scanning them with eagle eyes. Eyeing them up and down.

“Oh, Ri-chan… Where’d you find these sad puppies!” She stared hard and Yukiko who was dressed the most conservative. At least Naoto’s dark look masked any innocence. Chie elbowed Yukiko lightly and she looked at Chie quizzically.

“Keep them close to you Ri-chan, the club scene here will most likely eat them alive. Especially eye candy over here.” She gently poked Yu with a slender finger. Yu glared at her hopefully letting her know he’s dangerous. Yosuke perked up.

“Alright, alright drop whatever weird American act you got. You gonna let us in or not?” He said annoyingly. Mai-san’s almost snake like eyes snapped to Yosuke like if she barely noticed him.

She walked over to him her heels clacking as they hit the pavement. Her arm whipped up to the collar of his shirt and gripped it tight. Everyone gasped and flinched towards them. Before Yu could lunge towards her and crack her skull against the pavement, she bursted into laughter.

“I’m just fuckin’ with you kids, God, I remember how I was when I first moved to the US. Thought I’d have some fun with you.” She wrapped her arm around Rise’s shoulders and they all laughed nervously.  

“Of course, you guys can come in, any friends of Ri-chan are friends of mine! Follow me.” Still keeping her arm around Rise she led them passed the crew who seemed to stop working to watch the debacle that happened seconds ago.

“Get your asses back to work!” she snapped at them in English. Yu noticed she hardly had an accent.

Inside the building they weaved around busy stagehands getting ready for the show and tired employees trying to stay awake. They could hear typical club music though, it was slightly muted. He could also hear the crowd having what _seemed_ to be a great time. Yu only hoped that he didn’t make a suggesting they come. At the end of the bustling hallway was a single double door. The main floor obviously behind it since the music only got louder at this point. Mai-san then turned to face them.

“Alright here’s the deal. I’m really cool with the owners here and they occasionally pull strings for me. I dunno if Ri-chan told you but this show is twenty-one plus. So they aren’t not gonna ask for IDs. Get drinks or don’t but, just know beyond these doors you are on your own.” She stared rather seriously at them making sure that they understood what she was saying.

 “I trust Ri-chan not to get too crazy but I dunno but you all,” She finished pointed a finger at them.

“Anyways, have fun!” She abruptly swung the door open and practically shoved them into the lounge. They immediately stood like deer in headlights. Frozen in fear until Rise rolled her eyes at them.

“Follow me!” She yelled over the loud thumping music. Rise held unto Yu’s hand and began dragging him further into the crowd. Seemingly almost like on instinct Yosuke grabbed onto the bottom of Yu’s shirt. Yu raised an eyebrow at him and Yosuke immediately grabbed onto Kanji’s arm urging him to follow. Naoto held onto Kanji, Chie held on to Naoto and Yukiko to Chie. In a snakelike pattern they followed Rise towards a hardly quiet seating area. It took Yu a second to realize they landed at the bar.

They all took a seat and gathered their surroundings. Yu watched the crowd dance he’s seen club scenes in movies and the way most cinema showed it was almost demonic in a way. This however, was all good fun. Some people were gathered in their own groups dancing and laughing others were practically hopping around the dance floor from one partner to another. He also noticed a couple others straggling about the outside of the dance floor drinks in their hands having conversations.

He almost felt silly for encouraging this adventure. He thought that if he could go crazy in a club like in the movies his negative and nasty thoughts about his own friends would go away. He felt guilty for painting all these people as that way. All with evil impure intentions. The realization of this made Yu relax. Telling himself this is no different than just hanging out a café. A noisy and sweaty café…

“Do you guys know what you want to drink?” Rise’s voice interrupted his inner monologue. He looked at all the bottles on the shelf behind the counter none of them looked familiar. Save for the 2 bottles of sake, still not any kind he would find in his parent’s liquor cabinet.

“Just a champagne cocktail for me.” Yosuke said Yu tried to figure out if there was any false confidence underlying in his voice. He was surprised to find that there wasn’t any. Yosuke never told Yu that he’s been going around trying alcohol. Figured it would be something the brunette would love to brag about.

_Well two can play at that game_ , Yu smiled slyly.

“I’ll have a glass of wokka saki,” He said making sure his confident voice didn’t slip.

“on the rocks.” He added as a touch. He had no idea if that was the correct terminology he just pointed out one of the bottles he recognized and ran with it.

“Oooh, fancy and rugged” Rise commented. Yu almost sighed in relief he tried to ignore the rest of the group’s disbelief.

“I think the rest of us will just have what you recommend, Rise” Kanji scratched at the back of his head awkwardly.

Rise widened her eyes most likely elated by the opportunity to run a psyche test on her friends.

She quickly beckoned at the bartender and began ordering he didn’t recognize any of the drinks she ordered all American drinks most likely. Then again even if they were Japanese he probably wouldn’t recognize it either. Yosuke and Yu got their drinks first. He noticed Yosuke’s looked dainty it was served in a typical champagne flute it had a light orange color to it and it was topped with a cherry and a twirled orange slice. The fizz bubbling to the top and the chilled bottom of the glass made Yu’s mouth water.

Yu’s drink on the other hand was plain and still as water. The surface had an almost too glossy look to it reminding him that this is definitely not water. He realized what on the rocks meant just big hunks of ice. He breathed out in relief ice would water down whatever bitter taste this was hiding.

Chie’s drink was another type of vodka a cheaper simpler type as to not overwhelm her to the taste. Naoto’s was a light brown and had a large ice ball. She sipped at it tentatively and scrunched up her nose before shrugging and drinking more. Yukiko’s was served in a cocktail glass and was bright pink in color he recognized it to be some sort of cosmopolitan drink. Kanji’s was in a short glass that also had an array of tropical fruit. Rise ordered a glass of wine.

“Somebody has to drive right?” She laughed.

“You don’t even know how to drive Rise!” Yukiko giggled as she drank some more.

“How long will it take till we begin to feel _it.”_ Chie grimaced.

“Yeah I don’t want a repeat of King’s Game.” Naoto smiled and everyone groaned at the embarrassing memory. Especially Yu the debacle was something that haunted him for years still unable to believe he let the joke take a weird turn. He genuinely believed he was drunk. Talk about placebo.

He drowned out the girls’ conversation and focused on Yosuke’s contemplative face. He drank slowly smacking his lips after a long sip as if savoring the taste. His attention was solely on the dance floor Yu followed his gaze towards a group of women who were laughing loudly and grinding on each other.

Yu felt sick. He was used to his best friend gawking over every pretty girl and it was always seen as cute and desperate. This wasn’t innocent high school yearning anymore Yu could tell by the look of Yosuke’s eyes that this was a different kind of hunger, and the thought almost made Yu cry. He wished Yosuke would look at him like that.

“Staring at girls, Narukami?” Chie nudged him with her elbow and raised her eyebrows.

“Why would-“Yu stopped himself from answering. He’s never told the rest of the group that he was gay. He pondered the decision to tell them almost fearful of what their reaction would be. He knew that with a couple drinks in them they would just simply forget it in the morning. That’s not what he wants. He wants them to know who he is and he wants them to remember.

“They’re… nice.” He settled on saying and ignored the pitied gaze of Rise. Yosuke looked at him curiously. His glass was now empty Yu noticed.

“Wanna go say hi, senpai?” Kanji asked.

“You just don’t go up and say hi to a group of hot girls!” Yosuke exclaimed. The bartender came by and gave him another glass of alcohol.

“Oh really, what would you know?” Yukiko asked sounding like a genuine question not an insult. Chie giggled as she finished her drink.

“Watch and learn!” Yosuke took a confident swig of his drink. Practically jumping out of his seat he made his way towards the girls in long strides.

“5,000 yen says he chokes!” Rise teased.

They all carefully watched as the lanky boy approached the girls. Their smiles immediately falling they stopped dancing and turned their attention to him.

“Ooh I wished I knew what he was saying!” Chie frowned.

“Choke!” Kanji yelled out playfully.

They watched in complete and utter awe as he played the awkward teen card. The girls’ confused look turned into amusement and they even seemed to laugh. One of the girls closest to him playfully slapped at his arm and lingered before coming back to her hip.

“I’m impressed.” Naoto stated.

After a while Yosuke came bounding back with the largest smile on his face. Before anybody could ask how it went he answered.

“They loved my accent!” He laughed he put his arms out almost like saying ‘look at me now’. Yu was definitely looking that’s for sure.

“That girl over there,” he pointed to the one who was touching him earlier. Petite, dark skin and long braided hair. Opposite of Yu in every way.

“wants to hang out a bit. So I’ll give you guys a call later, yeah?” He winked and left before anybody could respond. Yosuke ran back to the girl who was waiting by the exit.

Yu’s thoughts were going a mile a second. Imagining the reasons why they were leaving the club. He felt like crying out to him to tell him to not go. His friends are here they should be together. The words got caught in his throat as he stared wide-eyed at the pair leaving.

“What the hell just happened?” Chie was the first to speak up. They were all in utter disbelief and Yu even more if that was even possible. He quickly excused himself and pushed his way against the sweaty crowd until he found the bathroom.

Surprisingly it was empty perfect for the incoming emotional breakdown. Yu bent over the toilet and dry heaved wishing he could just throw up his organs and die. All of a sudden, the room began to spin and Yu felt light. He blamed the fuzzy feeling on the disgusting alcoholic drink. His surroundings closed in on him and it was like he had tunnel vision.

He was starting to regret coming to this place. He thought coming would give him a chance to let loose. Instead it was a self-sabotage.

His tears came down hard and heavy. The last time he cried was when Nanako was in the hospital and reality of the situation was all too real. He cried in Yosuke’s arms that day.

Today he cries alone.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> aa it's back! I've been sitting on this chapter for months lol. .Finally finished it. there's errors galore i'm sure but its 2am and i got class in the morning so we'll leave it as is. Let me know how y'all are liking it! Updates as usual will be slow since i'm sticking to my original plan of making this a real slow burn.

**Author's Note:**

> ok so i added in a Rise scene because i feel like there's not enough souyo stories where she gets closure.   
> It's not exactly the end of her closure per say but it's a start.   
> This is a souyo story but i would like to get the whole team to get some attention.  
> Teddie's issue isn't forgotten but it will sit in the back burner for a while.


End file.
